TV Times

Yet another Sumathi Tele Awards Ceremony was held in Colombo recently for the 11th successive year.

Many talented tele artistes had been presented awards along with cash prizes. Awards ceremonies of this nature are being organized with the aim of improving the talents of the dedicated people in the field. I appreciate the judges and the people who work hand in hand to make this annual event a success.

However, this festival would be more meaningful if the enthusiastic artistes in the Tamil and English mediums are treated in the same manner. I believe Sumathi Group of Companies will make a positive move towards achieving this timely goal in order to enhance the dedication of the artistes who perform in the English and Tamil mediums.

I wish success and prosperity in all that you undertake in the interest of the artiste and the television viewers.

Hundreds of listeners look forward to listen to ‘Doramadalawa’ on T.V.

The Director of this programme should rightly be congratulated for giving us the opportunity to listen to a programme of this nature.

It would be more interesting and of greater benefit to listeners if the members of the panel be changed at least once a month. One would like to see new faces. This would add variety and make the programme more interesting and meaningful.

Speaking of new faces - one cannot but think of none other than Rev. Dr. Aloysius Pieris - a Catholic priest - a theologian of international fame. The local press describes him -most aptly as the unity priest. He is an internationally recognized scholar of theology Buddhist Philosophy and Indology. He is a master of many languages.

Dr. Aloysius Pieris represents the highest values of religious harmony and solidarity. Recently his 70th birthday was celebrated with contributions to a book printed in his honour - by internationally famous philosophers and theologians. He is known in Sri Lanka for his ground-breaking work on Asian Theology.

Among Buddhist academics he is known for his studies in scholastic Theravada Buddhist philosophy.

Dr. Pieris is also engaged in doing pioneering work in the field of inter-religious dialogue.

His main pre-occupation has been the improving of inter-religious understanding and building bridges between and among religions.

Today when some rabid extremists are trying to fan the flames or religious hatred it would be timely and of great benefit to listeners to listen to this eminent philosopher and theologian of international fame.

A Radio Listener from Colombo-9 writes.........

About the British, it is said that they invent ed games like Rugger, Cricket, Hockey etc, and when other countries catch-up on them and started beating them, they invent another game.

Similarly, SLBC begins radio broadcasts barely needed. These fade away after an year or so and then they begin another possibly to accommodate those tapping at the Ministers' door for employment.

There was the SLBC 'World Service' and then the 'Sports Service', they all died a natural death.. Children's programs conducted through the normal services are quite adequate for the children to listen, and now children prefer T.V.

How many children or even their parents will take time to pick this stations wavelength; they will be attending tuition classes during these times instead.

SLBC does not have the strength to play a requested song. (they mention your name and play some other irrelevant piece), people are not dedicated, so how can they cater to the needs of children?

Please don't make children scapegoats.

M. Fazal Mahmood of Chilaw Writes.......

The Sirasa Superstar competition is now over and the winner has been selected. Unfortunately the judges of the super star competition have been the general public the majority of whom do not have knowledge in music and its intricacies. Listeners were expected to send SMS messages or telephone a particular number re. their selections which I believe is a travesty of justice and fairplay insofar as the competitors are concerned. There were observers, some with degrees in music from Bhatkande who only cherished the pleasure of commenting on the musical talents and capabilities of the competitor. This generally would not suffice when a competition of this nature is in progress.

As a past student of classical music, in an out of school, I feel constrained to believe that the whole exercise borders on tomfoolery if not a diabolical farce.

A three-member panel of judges would have presented a clearer picture of the proceedings at least during the last three rounds of this singing competition. And the three members should have had the necessary qualifications in the field of music. But instead resorting to judgement by the public has ended in poor taste.

I have no quarrel regarding the selection of the so-called superstar but still there would have been some degree of satisfaction to the general public if the selections were made under standard conditions because no competition is conducted to perfection without it being judged by persons qualified to judge such competitions.

Another point one has to ponder is the subject of influencing the SMS or telephone voters by getting one person to tell ten others and so on and so forth in order to boost the number of votes to a particular competitor. Thus there could be a blatant miscarriage of judgement in the selections in this competition.

Hence it would be most welcome if Sirasa TV superstar organizers would take this matter seriously and conduct their future super star competitions by having musicians accomplished in their professions to be the judges of these competitions so that the general public would have no cause to cast about.

And finally I wish to add my compliments to Messrs. Rukantha Gunatillake, Jagath Wickremasinghe and to Ms Nirosha Virajini for conducting the preliminaries of this competition with professional sagacity.